Commission to relocate visa application centre

THE British High Commission will relocate its visa application centre to Tappoo City at the end of this month.

The High Commission's Suva head of communication, Vineeta Nand, confirmed the relocation would be made on March 24.

"This service will now be provided through a commercial partner, VFS Global, who already operate similar application centres across the Asia Pacific region," Ms Nand said.

"In countries such as Fiji which are low volume locations for the UK, the move to a user pay visa application centre ensures customers in Fiji can continue to have access to a local service."

She said the centre would be open at least every Thursday between 8.30am and 3:30pm.

And, this also means customers will now be required to pay an additional fee of about $177 to use the service — this is in addition to the visa fee.

"All applications will continue to be assessed by UK Visas and Immigration staff and there will be no change to our standard processing times."

Ms Nand said that as part of these changes, from April 1st, all visa enquiries from customers in Fiji would be handled through a new global contact centre.

"The contact centre will be operated in the United Kingdom and will be available during Fijian working hours.

"This service will now offer a range of enquiry options including a free recorded service, a premium call service for those who wish to speak with a customer service officer, a web-chat service and a free email enquiry service."